We had a four hour drive in the morning from Copacabana to La Paz, Bolivia's capital. We had a ferry crossing on the way at the San Pedro de Tiquina Straights on Lake Titicaca, the deepest section of the lake at 300m. Amber,the truck, went on a large wooden vehicle ferry. We all squashed into a small boat to cross. La Paz lies at 3660m altitude in a canyon basin, with its own micro climate. The old town and more expensive neighbourhoods are at the bottom of the canyon in the town centre, surrounded by sprawling shanty towns on the hillsides which merge into"El Alto", a suburb of La Paz on the Altiplano that has grown to be a city in it's own right. The city skyline is dominated by the snow-capped peaks of Mount Illimani. We stopped at a view point just before we descended into La Paz to admire the stunning city views.
Once we'd checked into our colonial style hotel in the centre of town we went for a wander. Nigel's been to La Paz before so showed me around parts of the town he remembered from his past visits. We went through the winding cobbled streets of the old town full of artisans markets and tourist shabby tat shops, plus through more non touristy local shopping areas and markets.
In the evening we had another lovely group buffet meal in our hotel as a farewell meal to some. We have another trip changeover tomorrow, eleven people leaving and eight new people joining the trip. A slightly smaller group for the next leg, still a big group though there'll be twenty of us instead of twenty three.
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